News, ideas and a software CEO's thoughts from 25 years in the industry.

A Little History Lesson

Our friends at Software Advice.com have put together a clever little MRP “timeline” to which they’d like to draw the manufacturing world’s attention. We thought we’d oblige them by plugging them here, as we thought readers would find this little mini-history lesson of interest.

You can find their timeline here (you may first have to scroll down past a long line of sales & propaganda info; Software Advice helps people select ERP system, much as we do, but the world is large enough…). Once you reach their “timeline” you can click on it at various marker points to see a mini-brief on the evolution of material requirements planning from the 1950s clear up to the present. The captioned events are perhaps a bit subjective, but the earlier history in particular is noteworthy in its historical context, and often interesting.

For instance, from it you’ll learn (from the year 1950 entry) how inventory management and the bill of materials were born. Quoting…

“Maytag develops a system for storing a limited assembly model schedule on a 650 tape-drum. With this system, Maytag is able to project their time-series several months in advance. However, the bill of materials (BOM) has to be maintained and inventoried on tape as well. These are the first steps toward maintaining electronic copies of inventory and bill of materials.”

We were pleased to see mention of the founding of APICS (1957), and its influence over MRP historically. As a past recipient of their “Company of the Year” award from our local chapter of APICS, we often use and recommend them to others for training and CPIM certification.

The 1960 entry presents Joseph Orlicky’s implementation of the first material requirements planning system at J I Case Co. in Racine Wisconsin, and the subsequent computerization by IBM of this important event in MRP.

The 1978 entry notes the move of MRP to the minicomputer and the introduction of MAPICS on the IBM S/34.

The 1980 entry discusses the emergence of MRP II, and the new planning components introduced in the MRP arena.

But we were most delighted to see credit given (if somewhat anonymously) to our good friend Dr. Donn Novotny, in the timeline’s 1984 entry, introducing the famous book “The Goal” and its influence on continuous improvement. Many of our clients know of our own firm’s long association with Donn who, perhaps unknown even to the folks at Software Advice, was actually the role model for Alex Rogo, the lead character and plant manager charged with turning around an unprofitable plant in Eli Goldratt’s seminal business novel. Donn’s influence – and that of Goldratt’s book describing his successes – remains a powerful factor in companies he works with to this day. Operating out of his Elkhart, Indiana home, Dr. Novotny continues to consult to companies worldwide today.

Check out the timeline yourself. Maybe you’ll even have an historical anecdote to contribute to the editors. I’m sure they’d welcome the input.